Just two weeks before the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Election Commission of India removed the state police chief, Rashmi Shukla, on Monday amid allegations that she was favoring the BJP by Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Shukla, an IPS of 1998 batch and the first woman to be appointed as Maharashtra State Director General of Police (DGP), has been shown the door within 11 months of her appointment in January, a government source said.
Accusing her of bias, the Congress and its allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi had mounted pressure for her removal for fair and transparent elections.
It also quoted the example of how the ECI had resorted to shifting and pulling off the Jharkhand DGP ahead of the assembly polls and questioned why such an action was not made with Shukla over Maharashtra.
The Mahayuti government had appointed Shukla as state DGP till January 2026 even as she was to retire this June.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nana Patole and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut have once again been demanding that DGP Shukla be relieved of his duties forthwith.
Patole alleged that Shukla was controversial officer who had taken sides with the BJP, and with her in office, there were doubts about the elections being conducted fairly and transparently.
When the BJP sought to get the DGPs replaced in West Bengal and Jharkhand, they got rid of the DGP immediately, while Election Commission has not got rid of Maharashtra's DGP".
"In the name of laws for Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Maharashtra, is there one different law? For holding free and fair elections, the man who has been allegedly threatening should be removed promptly," he added.
The Congress leader has also accused Shukla of having instructed police commissioners and district police officers to file cases against the opposition leaders and hassle them.
"Shukla is not new to controversies as she was involved in the phone tapping of Opposition leaders," Patole claimed.
Patole also recalled that he had, in letters to the Election Commission written on September 24, 2024, and October 4, 2024, demanded Shukla's removal.
On September 27, when the Election Commission officials were visiting Mumbai, a Congress delegation had also demanded that DGP Rashmi Shukla be removed, he said.
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